


oh simple thing (where have you gone)

by ariya167



Category: Zeroes Series - Scott Westerfeld
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers, Pre-Relationship, Tumblr Prompt, after zeroes before swarm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-07-10 05:06:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19900300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ariya167/pseuds/ariya167
Summary: Flicker was waiting for him when Ethan showed up, sitting on a park bench by the kids’ wading pool. She wore her usual dark glasses and a bright yellow dress, her cane lying across her lap like some sort of sword.





	oh simple thing (where have you gone)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to @musicalsandbooks on tumblr for requesting Ethan/Flicker + 'somewhere only we know'

When Flicker called him out of the blue, Ethan was instantly suspicious. Sure, she was one of the only Zeroes who wasn’t outright hostile to him most of the time, and they might had even been friends before . . . everything, but he was also pretty sure she and Nate had something going on between them. And even if they didn’t, Flicker was still undoubtedly his second-in-command. 

So yeah, no matter what the reason she was calling him, it probably wasn’t anything good.

“Yeah?” he answered after the third ring. Please, please let this be quick.

“Ethan?” Flicker asked, and he briefly panicked. 

“Uh, yeah?” Great job, Ethan. God, he hated talking on the phone. “Um, what is it?”

Flicker hesitated, which was strange. She was a lot of things, but shy was not one of them. “Meet me in the park on Westfield?”

Ethan blinked. He hadn’t been there since before last summer, but he’d usually meet Flicker there whenever Nate wanted them to do something downtown. “Um, okay. But . . . why?”

“I’ll tell you when you get there,” she said, sounding more like Regular Authoritative Flicker, before hanging up. 

He stared at the phone a moment longer, trying to decide what to do. Sure, he and Flicker used to be friendly, but that was a long time ago. But on the other hand, it wasn’t like he had anything better to do today, and if it was about the Zeroes, he might just be better off showing up anyway. 

Flicker was waiting for him when Ethan showed up, sitting on a park bench by the kids’ wading pool. She wore her usual dark glasses and a bright yellow dress, her cane lying across her lap like some sort of sword.

“Ethan!” she called out as he approached, waving him over. “Sit down.”

“Hello,” he said, a little nervous, before sitting down. “Um-”

Flicker held up a hand to cut him off. “Relax, I’m not here because of Nate.”

Of course she’d figured that out, Ethan thought, vaguely aware that he was sweating. “That’s good.”

Her lips quirked into a smile, and she shrugged. “I’m tired of being Nate’s messenger, that’s all.”

Ethan stamped down on the first thing to say that came to mind-namely, trouble in paradise?-and bit his tongue instead. “Uh-huh,” he said, finally. 

Flicker just smiled. A little quizzically, maybe, but a smile nonetheless, which made an odd feeling come to life in Ethan’s chest.

“Anyways,” she said, and crossed her legs at the ankle, leaning forward towards Ethan. “I wanted to talk to you.”

Ethan blinked, and said the first thing that came to mind, namely: “What? Why?”

She cocked her head to the side, dropping her glasses and frowning a little at him, like she was trying to get a closer look. Which made no sense. 

When she spoke, her voice was quieter, and a little more hesitant. “We were friends, right? Before . . . everything?”

“Uh, yeah,” Ethan said slowly, unsure of where this was going. “I mean, I think so-”

“Are we still friends?” she asked, cutting him off. “Well, probably not-but could we be? Again?”

Ethan didn’t know what to say, which was a pretty usual occurrence in his life. But this wasn’t something he could-or even wanted to-use the voice for. It just had to be him. “I . . . I want to. If you do too, I mean.”

Flicker smiled back at him, a real smile, and that weird feeling tugged inside him again. “Thanks,” she said, and tucked her hair behind her ear before half-turning away. 

Was the conversation over or something? But she was still sitting here, and she hadn’t said anything to him along the lines of ‘go away’ so he figured he was safe. Then he thought of something.

“Um,” he said, which was a great start. “If we’re going to be friends again, I want to . . . uh, say sorry. For the stuff I said last summer, I mean.”

Flicker didn’t say anything, and he turned to see her sigh, still facing out towards the park.

“Yeah,” she said, barely loud enough for him to hear. “Thanks, I guess.” 

Ethan stared down at his feet, wishing he could use the voice to fix this. He liked Flicker, genuinely, but how the hell was he supposed to apologize when he didn’t even remember what he said to her? Something about her and Nate hooking up, which was sort of gross when you thought about it-

“Look, Ethan,” Flicker said abruptly, shaking him from his thoughts. “It hurt, what you said to me, okay? I won’t pretend it didn’t.” She laughed, bitterly, and Ethan flinched. “But probably not in the way you’d think.”

“No, I’m not-I’m not thinking anything,” he said hastily, then totally regretted it a second later. “Uh, sorry. You can keep talking, if you want. Or not! That works too.” 

She snorted, and rolled her eyes, but at least she wasn’t totally mad at him. 

“The thing is, Ethan, what you said kind of . . . woke me up, I guess. Nate and me is none of your business, but after last summer, I realized that our relationship wasn’t what I thought it was.”

“Like . . . in a good way, or a bad way?” 

Flicker turned back, focusing on him with a small, soft smile on her face. “Definitely a good way,” she said, and Ethan suddenly realized his mouth was dry.

“Uh,” he managed. 

“When I said I wanted to be friends again,” Flicker said, resting her chin on her hand, “I wasn’t just being nice. I like you, really.”

“I like you too-” What was happening? Was she about to kill him?

All doubt in his mind was erased when Flicker leaned forward and kissed him, sliding easily into his short hair with one hand and cradling his cheek with the other. Her lips were soft, and so was her hand on his skin, and even though they were really sitting too far apart and the park bench was digging uncomfortably into his spine, he found himself pushing back.

When they broke apart Flicker was grinning, her cheeks flushed. “Now do you get it?” she asked, and Ethan smiled back at her.

“Yeah,” he said, “I do.”


End file.
